Monday, April 18, 2011

The Economy Stinks for the Trash Industry

The city of Arlington expects to lose about 950,000 dollars of revenue this fiscal year from the town landfill. The lack of trash is directly linked to the decline in business being conducted in today's economy. The landfill lease makes more money per year than the leases of the Ballpark and Cowboys stadium combined, making it the biggest lease source revenue in the city. Republic waste operates the city landfill. They have diverted some trash to Fort Worth landfills, which is also leading to the revenue loss. The current size of the North Arlington landfill has 12 years left, and the city is expecting to expand horizontally and vertically, giving it 20 to 25 years of life left. "As long as the landfill is open and has the capacity to take in trash, it will be a revenue generator for the city," Byrd said. This impacts our economy because the revenue from the landfill is so large that the city can use the funds for building roads and parks. We have seen the direct impact from the funds used by the city. Republic Waste diverting trash to Fort Worth will hurt the Arlington public works fund in the long run. Although it is currently a big loss, public officials expect the revenue to rebound in the next fiscal year.

There is not a set plan for the expansion yet. Expanding horizontally would be cutting out more acres for the landfill, and vertically would be stacking new layers on top of the existing trash. The money for the expansion will be taken out of the yearly revenue from the landfill.

WHy is it that we are transferring waste from Arlington's landfill to a Fortworth land fill if it is resulting in revenue loss? Wouldn't it be better to keep the trash in the Arlington landfill creating revenue that could be used to expand our own landfill. This would also be beneficial to our own economy. Whats the benefit to our city in generating revenue for Fortworth while decreasing our own?